Suggestions to alternatives?

[Jeuk]

So, I once had a dream of one day owning a modern version of the big muff ram's head with the same classic tone.
I liked all the clips I heard on various sites online, and was pretty set on buying one at some point (when funds were available). Then it got discontinued. Shame. Nonetheless, I heard a few clips online of Skreddy's Pinkflesh and it sounded quite good as well, at least in terms of gilmouric tone and signal chain. It, also, has been retired from production.

So now I am kind of stuck. I want a ram's head tone, I want a modern version of it (bypass, dc power, led, other pluses, but mostly the price of vintages and my inability to fix them if something were to happen), but I can't seem to find something that fits the description.

So if anyone here has any cool suggestions, please do share links to media and descriptions. I'll be happy to rediscover a new hope.
Thanks.

[imlikeajungle]

Hoi itch,

Have you considered the BYOC Large Beaver? "The BYOC Large Beaver kit comes with parts to build to Triangle Era specs or Rams Head Era specs including BC239C transistors."

With the Large Beaver, we set out to give you the most absolutely accurate sonic recreation of an
early era Big Muff Pi, but with some added tonal flexibility. Since the component selections used
by Electro Harmonix in the early days were very inconsistent, there are many conflicting opinions of
what exactly Triangle Era specs and what Ram's Head Era specs should be. So we decided to
investigate for ourselves. We sampled dozens of vintage Big Muffs and recorded the component
values for dozens of specimens. We then compiled the data to determine what the average value
(or closest to a standard component value) was for each component. This gives us a far better
idea of what the intended component values should be and a tone that is more consistently familiar.
The BYOC Large Beaver kit comes with parts to build to Triangle Era specs or Rams Head Era
specs including BC239C transistors.
We also added a modification to make the circuit better adapted for any playing situation.
Because the Big Muff Pi has such a scooped mid EQ, it can make it hard to cut through in a band
setting or impossible to nail your favorite famous recorded muff tones because of post recording
EQ. We added a 4 way EQ switch that affects how the tone knob works. Position 1 is the
standard mid scooped tone knob that we all know and love. Position 2 is a flat mids tone knob that
you'll find on a lot of the modern boutique Muff clones. Position 3 is a mid hump tone knob which
really cuts through and gives it a real overdrive flavor when you roll back on the guitar's volume
knob. And position 4 is a tone knob bypass, like you'd find on some of the later versions of the Big
Muff Pi, but never before on the Triangle or Ram's Head Era versions. When you take the passive
tone stack out of the way, the tone knob bypass offers a huge volume boost with unadulterated
vintage muff tone....very cool!

Clips: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/beaver.html

[imlikeajungle]

Forgot to add one of the forum members (C.J. Albert) has both versions of the Large Beaver. He had a shootout with a friend who had a vintage Triangle Muff with him and that vintage BM ended up for sale. I've heard both Beavers but do not have enough experience with vintage Muffs to compare but you could give them a spin at 89$...

[Jeuk]

Forgot to add one of the forum members (C.J. Albert) has both versions of the Large Beaver. He had a shootout with a friend who had a vintage Triangle Muff with him and that vintage BM ended up for sale. I've heard both Beavers but do not have enough experience with vintage Muffs to compare but you could give them a spin at 89$...

While the stompbox sounds really close to a RAM's head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy2kiZBadtk

Minus maybe some equalization that sound a bit more aggressive on the beaver, they are quite similar in response and other textures.

However, I have never built a stompbox before. I soldered the grounding wire for my strat, and then burnt my fingers by picking up the solder (atleast there was less noise with the strat after my fingers healed). I am not sure I would be able to pull something like this off, but it sure is a cool suggestion, and at a very good price. So as of now, considering it's a possibility for me to accomplish putting it together, it seems like the most viable option. OR, I could always buy the prebuilt ones, even though it defeats the original purpose of the BYOC, it's not that much more expensive.

What about Skreddy's Lunar Module? I still haven't had a chance to try one of his pedals yet but never heard anything but good things about em. (Ironically, I've got 'Brain Damage' playing on the radio as I type this..)



The discontinued Skreddy pedals come up pretty regularly on eBay, but demand for them, like the D*A*M Ram Head, puts a premium on these second hand units.

There's a few options out there. You've got Skreddy still, and I had a real nice Triangle built for me this year by Brad/Creepy Fingers. There's also the Cornish pedals as well, but those are pretty damn expensive:

http://www.petecornish.co.uk/

Thanks for the info: Skreddy's pedals (from what I hear) are hitting 300 bucks on ebay nowadays. Kind of over the top, IMO.
A Pete Cornish pedal would be great, but once again it's quite expensive.

The lunar module sounds great, and may be a great addition to any rig, especially my hopeful one, but I would consider it an addition and not a replacement for the muff. It seems like a great fuzz box but I am fighting for as close to a ram's head tone as I can get right now.

Once again, thank you both for your suggestions. Very informative and helpful so far.

[happiass]

The lunar module sounds great, and may be a great addition to any rig, especially my hopeful one, but I would consider it an addition and not a replacement for the muff. It seems like a great fuzz box but I am fighting for as close to a ram's head tone as I can get right now.

I have a Skreddy Mayo and Zero. I haven't had any first hand experience with the Lunar Module , but I'm pretty sure its much closer to a silicon fuzzface than a muff (the clips sound great though). You should probably email Marc directly if you have any questions, he's a really nice guy and I'm sure he'll point you in the right direction.

[jimi_dylan]

Sweet! Hey, Marc, if you're out there: "Welcome to the best fuzz forum on the net and GREAT job with you pedals!!!"

[devnulljp]

For the money, how about just getting a vintage 3003 lamb's head big muff and modding it for TB?
A v2 lamb's head can be had for <$300, while some of those boutique clones are up there in price too.
The v3 3003 has the same circuit--different trannies and graphics, but still a face big muff--and costs way less.

Other alternatives? BYOC, if you're not good at soldering, buy a built kit?
Earthquaker Hoof -- although as someone else mentioned I think that's more a clone of the Sovtek...
Ron Sound does a nice big muff -- the hair pie (!)
The Skreddy stuff has a good rep, but it's expensive too.
Greg at SolidGoldFX has made a few muff clones in his day. Drop him a note and see what he an build for you?


EDIT: There's a 70s lamb's head on evilbay (looks like it might be the Ron Sound guy selling too) with a BIN of $350...

[happiass]

Ron Sound does a nice big muff -- the hair pie (!)

Shit, I had forgotten about this one. I played one of these a while ago and was very impressed. Pretty affordable as well. Good suggestion .

[Jeuk]

For the money, how about just getting a vintage 3003 lamb's head big muff and modding it for TB?
A v2 lamb's head can be had for <$300, while some of those boutique clones are up there in price too.
The v3 3003 has the same circuit--different trannies and graphics, but still a face big muff--and costs way less.

Other alternatives? BYOC, if you're not good at soldering, buy a built kit?
Earthquaker Hoof -- although as someone else mentioned I think that's more a clone of the Sovtek...
Ron Sound does a nice big muff -- the hair pie (!)
The Skreddy stuff has a good rep, but it's expensive too.
Greg at SolidGoldFX has made a few muff clones in his day. Drop him a note and see what he an build for you?


EDIT: There's a 70s lamb's head on evilbay (looks like it might be the Ron Sound guy selling too) with a BIN of $350...

Thanks for all the advice man!
I'm looking into all those options right now.
Some very helpful people on this forum. The tone quest continues.

[Graham]

Well I have most of the originals and a particularly nice sounding wide bodied green DAM Ram Head (which is first class) - I also freely admit to not being into modern stuff so dont know anything of the bulk of what you will be recommended here BUT what I do have and would have no hesitation in recommending one to you is one of Erich's (Diceworks) pedals - in amongst a special he built for me (that included a few early versions of tonebender as well as a buzzaround) he had a section that basically covered just about every single EH Muff option available - (including various highly regarded modifications) I am sure somebody else here can put you in touch but the thing you need is called the "Diceworks Muff Driver (or maybe its the Muff Finale)" and I give it Grahams five star rating - very cheap too if a little uninspiring on the cosmetics - Erich is a friendly and communicative guy and puts his efforts into getting the sound right - he freely admits that fancy pedal decoration is not his thing! - I just checked mine out and amongst the available configurations are:options all the way from the original Triangle version through the various Cornish modded setups and some of the Colorsound type tonebender circuits that emulated if not actually copied the Muff design - there are something like 24 different switching combinations that cover about every versio you might have ever heard of - Where I have the originals and have A/B'd them they always turn out pretty darn good!!

I would be more cautious in bigging up another builders gear here if it werent for the fact that currently Dave has decided to discontinue the Ram - so do yourself a favour and google Diceworks!
Cheers Graham

So, I once had a dream of one day owning a modern version of the big muff ram's head with the same classic tone.
I liked all the clips I heard on various sites online, and was pretty set on buying one at some point (when funds were available). Then it got discontinued. Shame. Nonetheless, I heard a few clips online of Skreddy's Pinkflesh and it sounded quite good as well, at least in terms of gilmouric tone and signal chain. It, also, has been retired from production.

So now I am kind of stuck. I want a ram's head tone, I want a modern version of it (bypass, dc power, led, other pluses, but mostly the price of vintages and my inability to fix them if something were to happen), but I can't seem to find something that fits the description.

So if anyone here has any cool suggestions, please do share links to media and descriptions. I'll be happy to rediscover a new hope.
Thanks.